3 Client Red Flags for Digital Content Creators
It’s January, and marketing dollars are back! If you’re a creator, you’re probably fielding emails and calls from a number of brands, locking in work for Q1. But how can you tell if these brands are going to be good to work with? At the start, every opportunity seems similar, and it’s hard to tell which clients will be tough to collaborate with, and which ones will be great to work with. I’ve been working with clients for over five years now, and I’ve sniffed out a few red flags to watch out for. Take a look below.
They Can’t Schedule a Call
It might not seem like a big deal at first, but if a client can’t schedule a call with you, this is a red flag. They might be astronomically busy, they might have poor time management skills, or they might just not want to spend time speaking with vendors. In any case, this is a red flag, because it opens up avenues to potential problems down the road.
But wait–if a client can’t schedule a call with you, then how do you get in business with them in the first place? They’ll call you out of the blue with an immediate opportunity. I confess to having many clients like this. And to be honest, it’s kind of exciting. People who work like this are good at getting results in the short-term by leveraging opportunity and excitement to lock in deals. And if you’ve been sitting on your hands all week, updating your TikTok, hoping for work, and then you get a call asking if you can deliver by Friday, it’s exciting!
And ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with taking projects like this. In some cases, you can get a nice “rush” rate on top of your normal rate. But the fact remains: this is a client red flag. It shows that they don’t value your time, and don’t have good workflows in place. Clients like this are the most likely to ghost you after you deliver content, most likely to pay late, and most likely to text you in the middle of the night. If your client can’t schedule a call, take this into consideration when working with them.
They Tell You About Their Dreams for the Company
Strong businesses aren’t built on dreams. They’re built by hard work and consistency. There’s nothing wrong with a client telling you how they hope to grow their company. But if they’re doing it too early, to persuade you to work with them, this is a red flag. Clients like this are usually detached from real-world analytics, which means they’ll have expectations for your content based on hopes instead of metrics. Smart entrepreneurs understand the analytics behind their business, and make realistic projections based on those.
Smart entrepreneurs also invest a set percentage of their revenue back into marketing, no matter if it’s driving immediate sales or not. Over time, they’ll optimize their marketing to build the brand and drive sales, but they don’t have unrealistic expectations in the short-term. Dreamer clients, on the other hand, do have unrealistic expectations for their content. They bring a “this had better work” mentality to your content. You want the content you create to be a strong cornerstone that your client can build upon. If your client hopes it will be a rocket ship, you’re in a lose-lose situation.
They Don’t Share Any Creative Examples
It’s pretty typical for clients to share inspiration to inform the content they want. If your client doesn’t share inspiration content, this is a red flag. Clients who can’t find any inspiration content have a nebulous idea of what they want, and it’s ever-changing in their minds. It doesn’t matter how well they explain what’s in their head. Unless there are visual references, it’s anyone’s guess.
Some clients want the results of the content without understanding the building blocks of the content. If a client gives you inspiration content without explaining what they like about it, they might be more focused on the comments, likes, and engagement than the process of making it. Don’t get into a project without getting the client to define what they specifically like about the inspiration they send you. You can help draw it out of them with specific questions and explanations, sure. But if all they have to say is, “This video is sick!” that’s a red flag.
There’s no such thing as a perfect client, and if you need to work, you need to work. There’s nothing wrong with working with clients even if they have a red flag or two. But your viability as creator depends on you maximizing your projects. Keep these red flags in mind as you grow, and when you have the opportunity to pick and choose between clients, keep the clients who work well with you.
